Julien Fillion – ego

It begins as a rock-tinged blues-funk, with distorted jazz overtones that throw some big sounds in our ears (Sahara, we love it!). Then it forks into a light, nocturnal groove, beautifully anchored in a soaring melody that fleshes out into a more expressive dramatic intensity (Alba), before turning into a short, hazy ballad (Hiatus). It continues with the strange, atmospheric v(.)id, followed by the almost “fusional” Supernova, with its BadBadNotGood overtones. 

I’ve just described the brief but excellent musical journey of ego, a great EP by saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Julien Fillion (Fouki, Les Louanges, Bobby Bazini, Rau_Ze, Clay and Friends, The Brooks), Révélation Radio-Canada Jazz (2021-2022). The Montrealer dips into multiple sound universes, as demonstrated by his resume of collaborations, and this EP of five well-constructed pieces, produced with character, thus constitutes a calling card as a leader which, added to his eponymous debut album released in 2021, could certainly last a long time and open whole new doors for him.

We love it, and look forward to an eventual full album.

Julien Fillion: saxophones, flutes, clarinet, guitar, keys (synth, piano, rhodes, synth bass)

Jonathan Arseneau: electric bass

Alain Bourgeois: drums, shaker

Thomas Sauvé-Lafrance: drums